Action Spotlight

End the war and blockade in Yemen imposed by the Saudi-led coalition which the U.S. is refueling. Urge your Representative to co-sponsor the Khanna-Massie resolution. Urge your Rep. to take action!
Img: Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)

Washington - Peace and human rights groups opposed to U.S. participation in the catastrophic Saudi war and blockade in Yemen will hold a press conference on Monday March 12, 2018 at noon in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office building to announce their opposition to the Todd Young-Jeanne Shaheen bill that would continue U.S. participation in the war indefinitely, to call on Young and Shaheen to withdraw their bill, to call on Young and Shaheen to withdraw their threat to substitute the Young-Shaheen bill in place of the Sanders-Lee-Murphy bill to end U.S. participation in the war, and to call on Young and Shaheen to pledge to oppose any effort to substitute the Young-Shaheen bill for the Sanders-Lee-Murphy bill on the Senate floor.

After the press conference, the groups will go to Shaheen's office and then to Young's office to press their demands. The groups will deliver petitions signed by New Hampshire and Indiana residents in support of their demands.

The Young-Shaheen bill would allow U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen to continue if Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "certifies" to Congress that the Government of Saudi Arabia is undertaking "(1) an urgent and good faith effort to conduct diplomatic negotiations to end the civil war in Yemen; and (2) appropriate measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by increasing access for all Yemenis to food, fuel, and medicine."

On January 19, 2018, Members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to the Ambassador of the Government of Brazil to the United States, calling on Brazil’s authorities to ensure that the rights of former President Lula to due process are fully protected, in accordance with Brazil’s international treaty obligations.

An analysis by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has found that the purportedly liberal cable network MSNBC did not run a single segment devoted specifically to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen in the second half of 2017, even though – or perhaps because – the U.S. government has played a key role in creating the catastrophe. During this period MSNBC ran nearly 5,000 percent more segments that mentioned Russia than segments that mentioned Yemen.In all of 2017, MSNBC only aired one broadcast on the U.S.-assisted Saudi airstrikes that have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. And it never mentioned Yemen’s cholera epidemic, which infected more than 1 million Yemenis in the largest outbreak in recorded history, a direct result of the U.S.-assisted Saudi/UAE war and blockade.[1]

Just Foreign Policy is seeking a Policy Associate to support the organization’s work in developing and advancing just foreign economic and military policies. The ideal candidate will have expertise in legislative affairs and US foreign and/or economic policy as well as exceptional research and communications skills.

Just Foreign Policy (JFP) is an independent and non-partisan membership organization dedicated to reforming US foreign policy by mobilizing and organizing the broad majority of Americans who want a foreign policy based on diplomacy, law, and cooperation.

The only realistic alternative to endless war in Afghanistan is a negotiated peace that includes all the major Afghan factions and all the neighboring countries that are supporting major Afghan factions in the Afghan civil war, including Pakistan, India, Iran, and Russia. The Obama and Bush Administrations never seriously pursued a negotiated peace. So far, the Trump Administration is simply continuing the Bush-Obama policy of adding just enough American soldiers to prevent the Taliban from completely taking over Afghanistan, without doing anything diplomatically and politically to end the war.

Urge your Rep. & Senators to press the Trump Administration to commit to real diplomacy to end the war in Afghanistan by signing our petition at MoveOn.

On June 13, only five Democratic Senators voted to keep arming Saudi Arabia's famine-inducing war in Yemen: Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The vote was 47-53. If these five Democrats had voted with the Senate Democratic leadership and the majority of Senate Democrats - that is, if they had voted like Democrats, like they did on Trumpcare - the Senate would have voted to block the Saudi arms deal.

Senator Todd Young [R-IN] and Senator Jeff Merkley [D-OR] have introduced amendments on the National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA] which would block the arming of Saudi Arabia's war crimes in Yemen. Senator Young's amendment would prohibit any arms transfers to Saudi Arabia until the Saudis stop bombing hospitals and stop blocking humanitarian aid. Senator Merkley's amendment would prohibit the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Call your Senator now at (202) 224-3121. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like:

"Stop arming Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Co-sponsor the Young and Merkley amendments."

On June 3, 2011, there was a roll call in the House on withdrawing U.S. forces from unauthorized war in Libya, pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. The vote was 148-265. The following 76 current Members of the House voted yes:

More than a million malnourished children are living in areas of Yemen hit hardest by a cholera outbreak, NPR reports. Malnourished children have substantially reduced immune systems and are at least three times more likely to die if they contract cholera. Yemen's cholera outbreak is already the world's worst in a single year since records have been kept. Treatment for cholera in Yemen would be straightforward, if it weren't for the U.S.-enabled Saudi-UAE war in Yemen.

UNICEF director Anthony Lake was clear when asked by The Associated Press about how to end the disaster: "Stop the war."

So far, the House Republican leadership has blocked a floor vote on ending U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's Yemen war. But House Members could force a floor vote by invoking their Congressional war powers, since, as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker has acknowledged, Congress never authorized this war.